Preservation of Life
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Niijima and Kay Shirihama share a bond deeper than blood. Forged under a hellish tragedy that almost destroyed them- they have been each other's strength for many years. Now suddenly the past has returned to haunt them both and Niijima has decided that for once he will stand his ground and refuse to run away knowing what it would cost Kay-chan. Rated M for later chaps. Fem Kenichi.
1. Chapter 1

It all began like it usually did for Harou Niijima and Shirihama Kay, with the usual pattern of Kay Shirihama's disappearance the day before. Today it was June, Friday the thirteenth, and unlike this year- the day and date seemed to catch Niijima off guard at first. Not because he had forgotten, not really.

I mean who in their right minds could forget the trauma's they had experienced as a child? Kay herself couldn't and was no different from him, though her trauma's went considerably deeper due to things best left unmentioned in the light of day.

The poor girl, it wasn't her fault that she lived with her back literally and figuratively, against the wall. But who could blame her after everything that had happened? There was a reason after all, why she didn't speak of her family's private matters and such. Being sold into prostitution as a child had worked wonders on her ability to keep her secrets hidden.

Again, not that he blamed her. She never should have been used by her father in such a way to begin with. But that was neither here nor there, today he'd cut the last few classes of the day just to see if he could find her. And after contacting everyone in the Shinpaku Alliance to ask them to keep an eye out for her, he'd gone about his usual routine of buying sake and beer at a corner store using a fake I. D. and then had- instead of heading home- gone straight to the Dojo where Kay had been living for the past year.

Hoping that she was holed up inside somewhere where it was safe and sound. Perhaps practicing her martial arts with her masters.

He seriously doubted that she would be, but hey, one can dream right? Stepping up to the large outer doors of the fenced in area, he reached out a hand and pushed as something or someone came crashing through the eight foot thick concrete wall and hit the pavement next to his foot. Looking down half expecting Kay-chan to be sprawled on her back or start screaming for help- he was only moderately surprised to see her master Sakaki laying there with an, _What. The. Fuck? _Sort of look on his face before he slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position and finally seemed to notice Niijima standing there.

"Oh it's you," He said none too happily. Probably because he had just had his ass handed to him but then again, he had never felt that happy about Niijima's presence wherever he showed up at the dojo to see Kay-chan. "Kenichi's alien freak-buddy." Niijima's pointed ears twitched a little bit. No matter how many times he heard the alias Kenichi- he still couldn't stop thinking of his friend as anything but Kay-chan.

Not to mention being called an alien freak sort of pissed him off.

Why if the master wasn't such a tall and imposing man with so much muscle... Ah who was he kidding? He'd still piss his pants if he got into a fight with him because he just knew that the guy had a mean streak in him that would probably be the death of him. "Is K-enichi in?" Niijima asked, pausing for just the briefest moment in time to make sure that he didn't accidentally call Kay-chan by her name, especially to the master's face.

Like Kay-chan, he wasn't entirely sure what the volatile master and his friends would do if they all found out that she was a girl. Sakaki glared at him for a moment then grunted and nodded before noticing the bag of sake and beer and cocked a brow at him before asking in a curious/suspicious tone as he sized the teen up, "What's that stuff for?" The unhappy look on his face just going up several notches.

"Hm, oh this." Niijima said as he looked down awkwardly at the bag wondering if perhaps he should have hidden the contents in his school bag or something before showing up at the dojo. The last thing he and Kay needed today was to be under the scrutiny of people like her masters. But he knew that it was pointless to lie to the man or try running. So he just spoke honestly. Perhaps for the first time in many years. "Kenichi and I have made a little tradition of drinking together once every year these past five years so... I hope you and the other masters won't mind if we get on with it. I'm kind of looking forward to curling up in some random corner once I'm good and drunk." Nijjima said, surprising the master a little bit since the previous times the kid had come to the dojo to see Kenichi, he'd had an ulterior motive for doing so.

Like world domination and such.

The master made a humming sound and got to his feet and popped his neck and rolled his shoulders a bit before saying, "The kid's in there somewhere." Sakaki said as he motioned with his head in the direction of the dojo grounds and the houses before going on to say, "Be careful though, he's been in a bitchy frigging mood for the past few days now."

"No kidding." Niijima said in a thoughtful tone as he thought to himself,_ I can't imagine why... _as he walked through the large hole that the master had made in the wall and followed him to one of the houses where he and the other masters all lived before Sakaki made a 'Tsking' sound and said in an annoyed tone,

"Damn, he moves fast. I guess the kid ran for cover after putting me through the wall... Oh well, I'll surprise the little runt and get him later." Niijima's ears twitched as he gave the master a look of disbelief. Kay-chan had put this- _this_ monster through the wall? Seriously? _It's a good thing that I have the good stuff- I can only imagine what she'd do to me if she isn't able to drink and vent before she passes out tonight. _He thought as an image of Kay-chan bending his body so that it closely resembled a pretzel crossed his mind causing him to shiver as he slowly started to make his way to the branch house where she lived with the rest of the masters.

Taking several steps inside the wall, Niijima paused for a second then turned and politely bowed to the karate master, shocking the hell out of the man if the way his eyes widened and his face paled was any indication at all, before he then continued on his way. Leaving Sakaki to his spaz attack before he then pulled himself together and went running for the main house to grab the others.

Niijima being polite for any reason could only mean three things, 1) Hell had frozen over. 2) He was dying. And then there was number 3) _Kenichi_ was dying and Niijima was the only one who knew the when's and why's of the situation. And that meant that he needed Akisame and the others to help him spy on the two teens to gauge just how bad the situation truly was or would become.


	2. Chapter 2

Climbing the rope to the second story of the branch house where Kay was currently housed, was a little bit of a pain for Niijima but when he heard the crashing of something heavy hitting one of the rooms three doors down where he knew Kay was waiting, he tended not to bitch overly much to himself or anyone else. Choosing instead to pulling himself up and head to the room as quickly as possible to make sure that she hadn't done anything stupid like hurt herself by putting her fist through a wall or something, he reached out and unceremoniously pulled the door to her room open and peered inside and saw her standing in the middle of what could only be described as a disaster zone.

The normally neat and tidy room of the petite teenage juggernaut was a mess. Her books, her TV that she got from her parents last month, several of the shelves and the desk in her room were all either ripped apart or smashed to pieces. Quickly stepping inside, he slammed her bedroom door shut and not for the first time ever, cursed the fact that there was no lock on the door.

If any of the masters saw this they might think Kay was losing her mind. Which on a different day might have been funny to joke about if not for the almost dead look in her eyes when she finally turned to look at him and he noted that she had a large jagged piece of glass (probably from her broken television screen) tightly held in her hand. "Kay." He said very softly, noting the way that she twitched slightly and took a small step back away from him as he held out his hand.

This was bad. She was having an attack of some kind, which under normal circumstances he could deal with. But if her attack was so bad that she didn't recognize him then he may need to call someone for help before she wound up slitting his throat for invading her space. "Kay, do you wanna give me the piece of glass?" He asked in his softest most non threatening tone, hoping to god that he wasn't about to relive one of the second worst days of his life.

The one where she had grabbed hold of a knife and tried to cut out her own lungs before he could take the knife from her, suffering some slash wounds and several stab wounds. All of which had been considerably less threatening than her own. After all, she'd nearly died that day and had scared him more than any one person should be scared. And on top of that she had spent months in a coma and once she had awoken she had then been placed under suicide watch for a year before finally being released from the hospital.

But she still went to therapy even today. And hid that fact from her masters under the illusion of going home every other weekend to visit her parents and little sister when the sad reality was that...her parents didn't want her. After the incident that had left her broken, they had all but abandoned her. Oh sure she was called home from time to time by one of her parents, but she wasn't allowed to stay. They merely told her how worthless or what a shame she was to the family name and then threw her out.

They even refused to let her see her little sister because they feared she might hurt her. Niijima had always thought that fact was a pity since the child might have been able to stabilize Kay's condition a little bit more since the one thing he knew she would never do was attack someone so much younger and more defenseless than herself.

Which was why she was doing martial arts. It wasn't so much to learn how to fight- she had never liked violence in the first place and being a victim of a traumatizing event as a child wouldn't have changed that- as it was to learn how to control herself.

Her anger, her hatred, and most of all her rage...

Everyone who had seen how she behaved after the incident had known automatically that if she didn't learn to control those things and find a small sembalance of inner peace- she would self destruct.

He set the bag of sake and beer down on the floor next to his left foot and then straightened to his full height, a whopping five foot eight. Which was a convenient illusion to create when he didn't want trouble, but right now he could see it in her eyes. She wanted blood and wouldn't back down from him just because he tried to intimidate her. Besides, intimidation tactics wouldn't work on her at this point- no, he needed to get in close and take the piece of glass from her before she did anything she might regret later.

Shifting so that he was in a defensive stance, he waited to see what she would do and nearly shouted an oath when she straight out charged at him. However thanks to the fact that she wasn't thinking clearly, he was able to dodge the glass aimed at his neck and quickly stepped into her personal space and grasped her wrist in one hand while bending down slightly and slipping his arm between her legs, earning a furious scream from her as he picked her up over his head and then slammed her down on the floor. And then non too gently wrenched the glass from her grasp- slicing open her palm almost all the way to the bone and tossing the damndable make shift weapon across the room where it thudded into the wall as he then pinned her down and spoke to her as calmly as he could in an effort to bring her mind back from the edge.

It took longer than he would have liked, and for Niijima it felt like a fucking lifetime, but eventually after almost twenty minutes the glazed dead look in her eyes faded and she blinked up at him. "W-Wha? Niijima?"

Forcing himself to smile for her, he leaned back until he was sitting on his heels and carefully pulled her upright into a sitting position. "Hey. Forget that I was coming?" He asked since she seemed to be a mite confused at the moment. She looked around her bedroom then back at him and replied,

"No," Then asked with a small frown. "Did I do this?"

"As far as I know, but it's nothing that can't be fixed."

"Ah. I see." She said as she started to lift a shaky hand to rub her forehead when she noticed how badly her hands were trembling and got a sick look on her face for a moment as he dug out some plum sake for her and opened one of the bottles and then held it out to her.

"Here. Drink this then later we'll clean this mess up." He said as he shook the open bottle slightly, causing the sake to slosh around in the glass as he waited for her to take it from his hand.


	3. Chapter 3

Kay set aside her second sake bottle and wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand as Niijima rooted around his school bag for some super glue and duct tape to use to repair some of the damaged glass and such. After all, once he got started, the glue and tape would be the only thing holding the stuff together.

Kay glanced over at him for a moment as he finally found what he was looking for and sat back on his heels with a small chirping sound of triumph before reaching for the closest few pieces of glass littering the floor and began to systematically go through the small pile he gathered until he had them separated into matching little piles.

_She has certainly done a real number on her things_, He mused somewhat as he began his work as Kay asked in what could only have been a dread filled tone. "What brought you here today?" _And with alcohol no less? _She wondered as she waited patiently for him to answer.

"It's the thirteenth."

"So?" Kay-chan asked dully. Obviously not believing for a second that that was the real reason he'd showed up. And though he was loath to deny it himself, she was right. He hadn't just shown up with booze for the simple sake of drinking with a friend. No- he needed Kay nice and buzzed before he told her the truth. That earlier that day while on his way to school, he had run into someone from both of their pasts, making his way out of Kay-chan's house.

Someone that_ still_ made him shudder in revulsion.

Jay Philos, the man who had purchased Kay as his personal toy. The same man who had followed him and tried to gather information on Kay-chan from him. Which could only mean one thing. The Shirihama's must have sold Kay again.

_The fools._ Niijima inwardly sneered. Here they had one of the most amazing girls he'd ever had the privilege to meet, and they kept selling her for reasons that were inexcusable to him.

"So? Maybe I just wanted to see you." He finally replied as he glanced over his shoulder at her in time to see her setting aside a fourth sake bottle. Good lord the girl was drinking like a fish! At the rate she was going, there wouldn't be any alcohol left for him. And he certainly didn't want to be sober when he mentioned Philos being in town.

"You never really want to see me unless it's Shinpaku related or related to _that_ incident. And since you know I'll hurt you if your here for the Shinpaku thing- then it must be the other. So what's up? Why did you feel the sudden urge to see me?"

"Because your my friend. And Regardless of how I may act sometimes... I do care about you." Niijima said simply. Earning a peculiar half glance/glare from Kay-chan as she took another drink...finishing off what was left in her bottle before setting it aside and growling in a fierce tone,

"Those of you listening at the door are not privy to this discussion unless given permission ahead of time; now go away!" Nijjima paused and looked towards the door as he heard several muttered oaths and the sounds of feet beating a hasty retreat down the hall a ways then looked at Kay and asked,

"How did you know they were there? Even I couldn't pick them up and my hearing is fantastic."

"Well, you're an alien, plus I know them better than you do. Their always nosy." Kay muttered with a slight flush before Niijima said,

"Well whatever. At least you got rid of them before you turned into a mean drunk and tried attacking them."

_No shit._ Kay thought sarcastically as she leaned back against the wall and drew her knees to her chest as she waited for Niijima to tell her the real reason he had come today to see her while also trying to keep tabs on the masters down the hall to make sure that they didn't start spying anymore.

(******************************************************************************************************************************)

"So what do you think," Sakaki asked curiously as he exchanged looks with the rest of the masters. Akisame made a thoughtful humming sound. Kensei, and Shigure were both silent. Apachai looked...well, puzzled. "Do you think that alien freak is trying to get Kenichi into trouble again?" Sakaki asked worriedly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Somehow I doubt that Kenichi would let himself be manipulated by his friend so easily-" Akisame started to say when they were all startled by panicked shouting coming from Kenichi's room and automatically ran back down the hall to see what was wrong.

(******************************************************************************************************************************)

**_"What?!"_** Kay practically shrieked in horror as Niijima finally mentioned that Philos was in Japan and may very well be looking for her.

Upon seeing and hearing her reaction to the dreadful news, the boy quickly grabbed up every piece of glass and other breakable in his general vicinity and backed himself up against the nearest wall and prayed that she didn't decide to throw her desk (Yeah it may be missing a leg or two now. But that didn't mean it would hurt him any less if it hit him) at his head when a moment later her bedroom door was pried open and all of her masters filed into the room looking like they were out for blood.

No, maybe that was the wrong description. "What happened?" One demanded in a growling tone.

"Is it an enemy attack?" The big guy that hung out with the weapon's girl asked as he put his fists up and put on his game face. As the judo master and Chinese master both scanned the room for any signs of trouble. Giving Kay just enough time to quickly mask her reaction to the news about the bastard that had almost destroyed her being in japan and possibly looking for her before her masters all turned their attention to her questioningly.

"Kenichi," Akisame spoke gently as he noted the boy's pale, expressionless face. Which the jujutsu master felt was terribly suspicious. "Is everything alright?" He asked carefully, hoping that the boy would simply tell them what was going on so that they wouldn't wind up wasting time torturing it out of him over the next couple of days (or weeks) depending on just what he was hiding from them.

The teen looked at them, his expression still carefully masked when Niijima finally spoke up and said, "For the love of- Just tell them what's going on. They can help keep history from repeating itself."

Now this was interesting, The masters thought as a whole. Normally when Niijima showed up at the dojo it was to meet with Kenichi about the Shinpaku alliance or to relay info about enemy movements. Things that had all proven to be useful to them in the past. However something was off about today's meeting with Kenichi.

And the way he had phrased his words... _Just tell them_\- Just tell them what?

Kenichi shook his head no and Niijima sighed almost tiredly and said, "Either tell them or I will." To which Kenichi shocked them by looking the teen straight in the eye and spitting,

_"You say one word about that and I'll fucking kill you." _Mere seconds before the boy turned and ran for his window and slipped out before any of them could so much as register the fact that he had moved.


	4. Chapter 4

"D-Did all of you see that or was I hallucinating?" Sakaki asked in shocked disbelief after taking a moment or so to collect himself. He still couldn't believe the words that had come out of Kenichi's mouth! It had been both a warning and a threat to do more than simple bodily harm. He had just threatened to murder his school pal in front of them in cold blood. And there was no doubt in Sakaki's mind that the kid absolutely meant every damned word.

There was a chorus of voices, each one speaking at once.

"I heard." Was all Akisame seemed to be able to muster saying his voice sounding strangely weak even to his own ears.

While Apachai threw his hands in the air and screamed, "Appa! Apachai heard! But Kenichi is good person and wouldn't really kill someone... Would he?"

"Don't kid yourself everyone is capable of killing another to a certain degree," Kensei started to say before finishing off his trail of thought with. "Kenichi had blood in his eye... I don't think I've ever seen such a look of raw fury before." He turned his head to ask Niijima what had upset the boy only to see Shigure had drawn her sword and had it pressed against the teen's neck and was already trying to interrogate him.

"What...did you do...to Kenichi? Talk...or else..."

Niijima squirmed a little (or as much as he could without slitting his own throat) as all of the masters turned to regard him with calculating looks. He didn't like those looks. They practically screamed, 'Alien freak, what did you do to our kid?!' and 'Talk or we'll kill you instead.'

"Niijima..." Akisame said as his calculating gaze slowly turned cold, his face expressionless as he said in an unyielding tone that would have sent a lesser man scampering for cover, "What is going on? You will tell us before you leave or-" He started to threaten the boy- god knew he could rip him apart in an instant and put him back together again if he so wished. However Niijima simply looked him in the eyes and gave him an equally cold look before cutting him off at the legs.

"No," The simple word held so much weight that it felt as if it could crush bones. And in many ways, it could. Though Niijima would never admit it, it _killed_ him to say no to the master when he knew what was coming. Especially when he knew that they could help save Kay from Philo's and whatever sick and twisted schemes he may be cooking up at the moment. "I can't tell you anything K-Kenichi doesn't want me too. He's scared that if you knew...you-" It was difficult to put into words, such soul crushing agony and pain. To feel defeated before you ever had the chance to take so much as a swing at your enemies.

So he just stopped speaking, really there wasn't much that he could say at this point anyways. So instead he switched tactics, thinking of the only other way to communicate that wouldn't give any information about his and Kay's past away; he thought of the most painful thing he'd ever seen done to Kay. And then he let a few tears slip unchecked down his face while continuing to hold the master's gaze. Silently pleading with him to see. See the pain, the suffering, the years he and Kay had spent together being humiliated and stripped of their humanity. See how long it had taken them to try and function normally once they had escaped that hellhole.

_See, see, see, see- _

The master's, startled by Niijima's tears all backed off automatically knowing that whatever reduced the normally calm and collected kid to _this_ couldn't be good in any shape, form, or fashion. Yet didn't know what to do about it. Shigure's sword slowly moved away from his throat giving him a chance to lift his shaking hands to wipe his face. Wiping away as much evidence of his breakdown as he could before saying with a slightly shaky breath, "I came here today to break some really bad news to Kenichi as gently as I could. I thought things would go over better if I informed him first before we brought you in on it-"

"It was stupid of me to assume that we could bring you in on things without being asked questions we don't want to answer. All I can really say from this point on is that you're going to have to keep close tabs on Kenichi. Here. At school. Whenever he's out and about. I can use the Shinpaku to take some of the strain off- but we're kids. None of us are equipped to handle people who will kill innocent bystanders along with anyone else who gets in their way of getting their hands_ on_ Kenichi."

The master's looked at him wide eyed, their minds going over the information he'd just given them even as they wanted to ask him, _Just_ _what the hell was going on. _However they held their silence and let him continue. They had no choice now that he had come this far. It was either listen until the end and learn a few things about the coming storm, or lose their disciple forever.

"And let me just say this, if the people after Kenichi ever get a hold of him... You will never find him again. Not in this lifetime. And even if you did- the person you find would be little more than a rabid animal in desperate need of being put down. Do you understand?"

The master's still remained silent, though now that his words were finally starting to sink in he could see the worry, the anger, and fear in everyone's expressions as he walked over to his backpack and picked it up and slung it into place over his shoulder and said very softly. "These people will stop at nothing to destroy Kenichi... T-They've had him in their grasp before," It was the _only_ thing he was willing to say about his own past and Kay's. The only information he felt safe giving. "A long time ago when he was still very young. He doesn't talk about it. Frankly it's understandable given how many years it took for him to finally escape and regain even the smallest sense of safety and normality... He'll probably start having night terrors again starting tonight. So one of you might have to keep a watch on him just in case. If he even bothers to return tonight that is." Niijima said as he headed for the door when Sakaki called out, his voice almost a shout causing the teen to pause in mid step and look back at the man and his friends from over his shoulder.

"Wait! You unload all of this crap on us and then you just slink off- Just hold it kid! Who are these people? They can't be worse than Yomi. And just why the hell do they want Kenichi?"

"They are much worse than Yomi," Niijima replied before muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, "They want him because they never broke him." Then slipped out the door and disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

Kay stood out in the middle of the quickly darkening street, her mind racing as she tried to think past the fear edging it's way beyond her reasoning. Understanding now all too well Niijima's reason for coming to see her, and with alcohol no less. She looked around for a moment, feeling just a bit disoriented and began to move in the only direction that she could think of that would take her anywhere even remotely familiar.

Takada lived close by in the neighborhood she currently found herself located in.

She remembered that little snippet of information from the first time she had gotten sick at school and hadn't been able to leave right away and had wound up collapsing in the hallway.

Takeda had come running the second Niijima had texted him that something had happened to her, and had picked her up from school and taken her back to his place after he had gone to the trouble of trying to take her home only to find a rather puzzlingly cold reception waiting for her there.

But after her mother had turned them away, he had taken her back to his apartment and let her crash on his couch for a while until Miu had come by with Akisame to pick her up.

Both of them politely speaking with the boxer about how nice it was of him to take her in for a few hours and miss boxing practice.

And as usual, Takeda had simply shrugged off their gratitude. Finding it a little uncomfortable to take credit for something that was as natural to him as breathing and kindly reminding them that he owed Kay-er sorry, _Kenichi_\- for his arm finally getting healed up enough for him to resume his career.

She walked until she was almost to his apartment when his door suddenly swung open and both he and Ukita came tearing out the door and down the metal steps leading up to the quant apartment building's second floor before seeing her standing there under the street light a few dozen feet away and skidded to a stop.

Suddenly no longer in a hurry.

"Kenichi! You okay kid?" Takada asked as the two of them reached her. Takada taking a moment to grab her by her upper arms and look her over.

She was shaking, her mind in chaos- she also felt a bit nauseated- probably from all of the booze that she had drunk. Yet her senses were both strangely focused and unfocused at the same time. Takeda was speaking to her. But she was only picking up bits and pieces here and there.

Something about everyone receiving a text several moments ago alerting them that she was in trouble. That damned alien bastard would pay for that later, she swore to herself as she imagined throttling Niijima.

Also she smelled like someone had doused her in sake.

Again she was imagined throttling Niijima. But not quite as badly this time since it wasn't like he had twisted her arm or anything.

She felt big rough hands carefully framing her face as Takeda tipped her head back so that he could look into her eyes a second or so before muttering an soft oath and then turning to Ukita and telling him that she was hammered and probably wouldn't be up to answering any questions anytime tonight.

The taller man simply nodding in understanding as he pulled out his phone and began to text everyone in the Shinpaku Alliance that she had been found an was safe with him and Takeda. And then made a quick call to Miu to tell her where she was so that she and the masters of Ryozanpaku wouldn't worry since it was likely that she would be staying over with the two of them for the night.

A short time later, and a very weird trip up a flight of tricky stairs, Kay found herself being gently pushed down onto Takeda's guest room's bed before he then dropped down to his knees in front of her and slipped her shoes off of her feet and paused a second when he noticed turquoise blue and black polish on her toenails- because in her current state she had totally forgotten to grab her socks- and cocked his head a little bit as he looked up at her.

His expression peculiar for a moment before she blinked and it was gone. Settling into his usual easy going smile as he set her shoes aside and then moved to sit down on the bed beside her as Ukita appeared as if by magic from somewhere outside the guest room with a couple of pills and a glass of water.

"Here, you're going to need to take these now to keep from being so hung over later." He said as he handed the pills to her and then began to press the glass of water into her other hand when he glanced at her face. It was just a split second, but what he saw alarmed him far more than he thought possible.

Takeda saw it too. If the sudden tenseness in his body and the way he began to slowly curl his hands into fists was anything to go by. And he was _not_ happy with what he saw. In fact he looked downright murderous in that moment, and it scared the hell out of Ukita. The soft sound of his knuckles popping causing Kenichi to jump slightly and flinch back so quickly that the kid nearly dropped the pills and glass of water that he'd just handed to him.

In fact he very well may have dropped them if Ukita hadn't have kept a grip on the water at least. He wasn't as worried about the pills as he was the glass that the water was in, hitting the floor and shattering.

Not to mention the number it would do on Kenichi's feet if that happened would piss Takeda off.

Takeda shifted ever so slightly as he masked his emotions and slowly, carefully- almost as if Kenichi Shirihama were made of fragile spun glass- reached out and very carefully took the kid's less occupied hand in his own and gave it a light squeeze as he said lightly, coaxingly, "Something on you're mind Kenich? Wanna talk about it?"

Ukita looked at his long time friend knowing what he was doing.

This was Takeda's manipulative part of his personality coming into play. That part that made a person wanna talk about every deep dark secret they had so that the information could either be passed on (if deemed necessary) or kept filed away in the back of his mind for future use if needed.

Kenichi said nothing, the kid merely sat very still, his head bowed, his body shaking more and more violently with each passing moment. His eyes fixated on the back of Takeda's hand, his breathing uneven as Takeda and he sat silently. Waiting patiently for the kid to open up and tell them what was going on in his head.

And after what seemed like forever, Takeda's coaxing finally worked.

Kenichi turned and buried his head against the boxer's shoulder and began to cry. His breath leaving his lungs in little hics and sobs as he held onto Takeda's hand, his fingers tightening almost unto the point of pain and sobbed out the words, "Philo's is back. He's back to get me again. Please don't let him get me. _I'd rather die than be in his hands again!_"

Ukita and Takeda both exchanged a look of pure hatred and rage for whoever this Philo's person was. Especially if he could reduce the strongest person they had both ever known to this state without so much as being present.

One thing was for sure they would need to speak with each other and some of the other Shimpaku members, and possibly bring Kenichi's master's into things too.


	6. Chapter 6

Takeda gently lowered his friend onto the bed now that he seemed to have worn himself out crying. Kenichi's words echoing in the young man's head, causing him to frown a little bit as h tucked the younger boy in. Although if he were to be perfectly honest with himself, the boxer had suspected and eventually even had figured out that Kenichi was a- well, who cared who or what the kid was.

All the young man really cared about right now was his little buddy's state of mind. Especially since he'd seen people fall apart like the kid had earlier before, and none of them had ever gotten any better.

In fact if memory served him right, they had each attempted to take their lives.

_"Philo's is back. He's_ _back to get me again. Please don't let him get me._ _I'd rather die than be in his hands again!_"

Growling low in the back of his throat, the boxer leaned over 'Kenichi' and lightly brushed the kids dark hair back from his face. Not really caring if Ukita was watching with keen interest, every move that he made.

"Sleep tight kid." He whispered before removing himself from the bed and walking across the room to the door and flicked off the lights as he exited, making sure to quietly close the door almost all the way so that any light from the hall or living room wouldn't shine into the room before turning his attention to Ukita who was looking anywhere but at him awkwardly as he said.

"So," Then stopped for a moment before seeming to gather his thoughts enough to say, "Y-You _like_ the kid?" Takeda stared at his friend for a moment before realizing just what he was hinting at and nearly burst out laughing at the absurdity of him being gay for Kenichi when the kid was so painfully obviously a _female_.

I mean, come on. What self respecting guy painted his toe nails?

None that were straight. And certainly none that he knew. Not that he had anything against guys who swung that way. His personal policy in life was, Follow you're bliss and be happy. And he followed said policy to the absolute letter.

Giving Ukita a sly looking grin, he nodded his head in response to his friend's question. "Of course I like the kid. He's..." He paused for a moment to try and think up a word that would make Ukita squirm. "Delicious."

Takeda could have mentally kicked himself for coming up with _that_ word. Even if he did sort of think it was true. Still, it had the desired effect. Ukita not only squirmed, but flushed a nice beet red all the way to the tips of his ears as Takeda took a slightly threatening step toward Ukita- still toying with him a little bit before they got back to business and asked in a low tone, "Got a problem with that?"

"What? No. _No, no, no, no!_ I don't have any problems with you liking the kid at all!" Ukita said almost frantically. Feeling more than a tad weirded out by Takeda's behavior as the boxer gave him his signature smile and then brushed by him. Making his way into the kitchen where his and Ukita's dirty dishes were piled high in the sink.

He grabbed one of the few dishes left- a glass, and set it on the small table that he had set up to serve as a dining room table, and opened the fridge to grab a drink while taking stock of what he had left over food wise.

It wasn't much.

In fact what he did have was pretty pitiful looking.

He had some tofu, ramen noodles, and some old vegetables that he doubted were any good to eat anymore. Well okay, he took some of that back- the red, orange and yellow bell peppers and carrots were okay. But everything else looked bad. Real bad.

Grabbing a plastic carton that looked like a milk container, he quickly poured himself a drink and then put the container up and close the fridge.

It looked like he would need to make a grocery run later on. And while Ukita was a good guy and all, he didn't exactly feel right leaving him to watch Kenishi.

_"Philo's is back! He's back to get me again." _

_Again?_Takeda wondered.

_So whoever this Philo's guy is...he's had_ _Kenichi_ _in his grasp before._ Takeda thought to himself as he set his glass aside before his temper got the better of him and he broke it.

_"Don't let him get me! I'd rather die_ _than be in his hands again!" _

_What did this asshole do to you Kenichi? I can't protect you unless I know why he wants you. _Takeda thought as Ukita took a seat at the small table and watched him warily.

It didn't take someone as sharp as Akisame-sensei to know that Takeda was getting pissed. Possibly even more so than before. Like he had stated before, he _liked_ the kid. And if there was one thing that Ukita knew about his friend it's that when he liked someone, he would go to any lengths no matter how extreme to protect them.

It was that quality of his that made him a fucking fantastic friend.

And it was the same ability that would one day make him a great husband and father too. Not that Ukita was interested in him that way. He supposed that he was just trying to sort things out for himself.

After all if Takeda wound up dating Shirihama- well, he wasn't saying that they wouldn't be an interesting match. They sure as hell would be. Probably more interesting than most couples would be anyways. Possibly more than a guy like him could put up with.

Still... That was neither here nor there at the moment since they needed to focus on the issue at hand.

_Philo's._

Just the thought of what he could reduce Kenichi too made Ukita mad. That and his name sounded sleazy. Like the king of _ew-gross-me-outs-ville. "_What do we do about-"

"We wait until Kenichi is at least up. And then we pry our answers out of him and go from there." Takeda said as he turned and began to busy himself with cleaning up the mess he and Ukita had made out of their dishes earlier.

After all, he didn't want K-chan waking up and finding such a mess in his home.

It'd be embarrassing.


	7. Chapter 7

Takeda and Ukita spent the rest of the night wide awake, talking and trying to strategize on how best to help Kenichi but came up with far to many questionable variables to make any real progress. Which to say the least was frustrating to the two young men.

So much so that at some point in the early morning hours, long before Takeda decided he'd go out on a grocery run- he somehow managed to talk Ukita into sparring with him. Which his friend agreed too despite knowing that Takeda probably wasn't going to pull his punches any.

And so about two in a half hours after the beginning of their spar Ukita sat on the floor of Takeda's living room with a towel pressed to his bloody face and the boxer hovering, worriedly watching over him as he tried to staunch the bleeding from his possibly broken nose where Takeda had popped him good with that last left hook of his.

Thus effectively ending their spar.

"Dammit, Taka! I'm gon to geff uh fo thiss." Ukita growled out as he took the towel that Takeda had given to him the second he'd started bleeding, away from his face so that he could glare at his friend.

Takeda for once in his life didn't bother smiling or trying to laugh off his threat.

He was a mite upset that he had hurt Ukita so badly. But then he had been a bit distracted and hadn't been focusing on anything but the feeling of pure unadulterated _rage_ building in the vicinity of his chest at the unknown enemy of his little buddy Kenichi.

_Philo's._

The name alone conjured up visions of a sleaze ball with slicked back hair and an expensive top brand business suite.

_Crap_, Takeda thought as he slowly shook his head. If he kept trying to visualize every sleaze ball he could think of, he'd wind up going out and randomly beating the ever loving shit out of random people in just the minute hope that at least one of them may be Philo's so that he could finally lay Kenichi's demon to rest.

Ukita finally took the towel away from his face for good once his nose stopped bleeding and regarded Takeda's distant expression with worry.

So, he was still hung up on what had happened with Kenichi earlier. Ukita wished that he could say that he was surprised, but well...he knew the guy far too well to be that surprised.

"Takeda?"

His friend's dark eyes flickered in his direction for a moment as Ukita opened his mouth to speak when Takeda beat him to it. Only instead of voicing his thoughts like he had thought he would, the jerk simply stated that he was going to run to the local market to grab some things for later on when Kenichi woke up.

Ukita might have swore at him again if he hadn't thoughtfully mentioned that he would grab some meds and an ice pack for his nose. Silencing Ukita as he simply nodded his head before being asked if he minded staying put and keeping an eye on Shirahama.

Ukita agreed. Partially since his face was a bloody mess. And partially cause he didn't want to leave the kid alone anymore than Takeda did.

And while his friend was grabbing a shirt, his apartment keys and his wallet and made his way to the door, he made Ukita promise that if anyone shady showed up asking about Kenichi, he'd ditch them and then grab the kid and leave out the back apartment window and use the rooftops to get as far away as possible before hitting the street and running straight to Ryozanpaku.

Ukita agreed, knowing that Takeda wouldn't have said anything if he didn't feel it necessary.

The trip to the store was mind numbingly boring to Takeda, especially since he already knew what he was going to get. Milk, orange juice, coffee (chai flavored) with vanilla creamer, shredded cheese, some green onion, bacon, sliced ham, eggs, rice, some stuff for miso soup and a few other odds and ends to get him through lunch and possibly even dinner.

Just in case one or even both of his house guests decided to stay longer than anticipated.

Which just might be the case depending on how _bad_ he suspected things really may be for Kenichi at the moment. That and he knew Ukita worked best as a badass whenever his stomach was full. So the second he had the guy fed, they would both be able to give the kid their undivided attention.

After purchasing everything for breakfast plus some extra stuff for later on, Takeda started back home when he came across Niijima being cornered by someone with a knife.

Vexed by just how much trouble the kid managed to get himself into yet still needing to work out some of his aggression, he decided to step in and save the evil little alien.

Setting his bags down, he slowly began to sneak up on the two and almost tripped over his feet when he heard the guy demand to know where Kay Shirahama was as he pressed the blade of his knife hard enough against the side of Niijima's throat to nick the skin and cause blood to well.

Still Niijima looked at the man calmly despite his life being threatened and stubbornly thinned his lips. Apparently refusing to say anything despite the fact that he usually sold people out as fast as lightening if it meant saving his own skin.

"Well freak? Where is the little bitch?" The man growled as he pressed his knife a bit harder into Niijima's neck causing the teen to cringe ever so slightly. His dark eyes flickering over the guy's shoulder to lock with Takeda's own. Bringing the boxer back to the here and now.

"I'm not telling a piece of shit like you where to find her." Niijima said bravely. Haughtily. His eyes daring the bastard threatening him to go ahead and slit his throat.

In fact it looked as if Niijima was very well prepared to have his throat slit. He looked expectant. Yet showed no fear of the impending threat to his life.

It was odd to say the least.

Especially since the alien held very little in life sacred enough to risk life and limb for.

Finally getting into position behind the guy, Takeda acted quickly reaching out and snaking his arms around the guy's neck and torso while Niijima used the split second the guy became distracted to slap his knife out of his hand and away from his neck before he reared back and slammed his fist into the guy's face.

Once. Twice. But the third time was the stunner- since it was what seemed to finally knock the thrashing man in Takeda's arms, out.

Deciding that there was nothing left for him to do, Takeda dropped the son of a bitch like a ton of bricks. Somewhat satisfied with the outcome even though he hadn't been able to beat the hell out of him.

"Where is Kenichi?" Niijima said after standing very still for a moment, his dark eyes glaring down at the unconscious man.

Takeda chuckled. The tone several shades too dark to have been any real sort of amusement. "Safe." Was all he said as he mentally conversed with himself.

_Thank you for saving me Takeda- You're my_ _hero!_

_No problem Niijima. Glad that you're alright. _

"Get those disgusting thoughts out of your head Ikki." Niijima snapped, his face flushed red in embarrassment.

Takeda collected his groceries from the street and then straightened his spine to cast the teen a weird look. "I don't know what your going on about." He said as he started to walk by the dark headed alien.

Niijima gnashed his teeth and hissed at him like a cat drenched by a sudden downpour. "Liar! I can hear practically every word in that head of yours."

Takeda said nothing, he merely cast a curious glance at Niijima from over his shoulder as the boy fell into step not too far behind him, muttering. "Well I can. It's not my fault you think _loudly_."


	8. Chapter 8

Takeda was silent as the two walked back towards his home. His mind playing over what had happened just minutes ago with Niijima and the stranger with the knife.

_Where is Kay Shirahama?_

Kay?

_Who the hell is Kay?_ Takeda wondered before briefly connecting the dots between the name mentioned and Kenichi. Turning his head ever so slightly to look at Niijima, he noted the impassive look on the teen's face and blunk. Niijima was wearing his poker face. His body language was tense, he was drawn in on himself. Trying to appear smaller than he really was.

Takeda narrowed his eyes slightly as it occurred to him that the teen was waiting for something to happen. But made no comments as he replayed the rest of what was said in his mind.

_Well freak. Where is the little bitch? _

Could it be possible? He wondered curiously. Could Kenichi and the chick mentioned before truly be the same person? Sure he'd had his suspicions for a while now about Kenichi. Mainly due to the fact that the kid simply appeared too feminine to be masculine in any sense of the word.

He was delicately boned. Petite with a well toned body that lacked any heavy muscle like his own.

The kid was flat as a board in the chest area, but Takeda wasn't so dumb as to not notice subtle hints of well hidden curves. So it was probably safe to say that she bound herself to keep others from noticing her- er, charms- which just went to show just how much she didn't want to draw attention to herself.

And with someone after her, he could certainly understand her reasons. Although why she felt she had to hide her gender had him completely stumped.

Although deep down he had to admit 'changing' one's gender and altering their appearance and such was definitely an impressive way to hide oneself in plain sight. And to take it just a step or so further, she had even altered her name a bit as well as possibly held back certain personality traits that would make her more noticeable.

It was pretty clever really.

And from the looks of things, Niijima obviously knew about her and what was happening with that bastard Philo's character.

Maybe if he asked Niijima, he'd learn something. He was about to open his mouth when Niijima cut him off with a firm. "Don't ask." Turning his head to look at the smaller boy again, Takeda cocked a brow at him and gave him a questioning look causing the teen to sigh tiredly and mutter.

"Dammit. Stop thinking so loudly. I can practically hear and see the gears in your head turning and while I would normally love to divulge in certain information- _I can't_. Not about this. This is Kenichi's secret to tell. Not mine."

"But you do know something."

Niijima wasn't touching that comment with a ten foot pole, thank you very much.

He knew that as one of Kay's friends, Takeda was somewhat entitled to knowing what was going on and just what sort of danger Kay was in. However as he had said mere moments ago- it wasn't his secret to tell. And until Kay had no choice but to tell someone- then he had no choice but to reluctantly keep quiet.

To an extent.

However if the right questions were asked, he could answer them. Kind of.

"Who is Philo's?" Takeda said suddenly, catching the teen off guard to the point where he actually stumbled over his own feet and would have fallen and possibly even hurt himself if the boxer hadn't grabbed him as fast as he did to stop his descent.

Looking slightly disgruntled Takeda gave the teen a weird look and then set him on his feet and resumed walking. "So I'm right. You do know who the guy is."

"Just drop it."

"Can't. Kenichi broke down last night and all but begged me and Ukita to keep the bastard from getting his hands on him."

Niijima wasn't a swearing sort of guy, but in that moment- he felt like the situation called for a few choice words and oaths. However he held his tongue and instead said. "Just drop it Takeda. I've already began things on my end to keep Kenichi from the son of a bitch's grasp. I've even gone so far as to plan for the inevitable."

And by the inevitable- Niijima was speaking of Kay's death. Because short of a miracle that was the only real way that she would be able to escape this particular shit storm.

He hated admitting it. But there it was.

And as per their arrangement years and years ago when they had both escaped Philo's the first time- he would have to be the one to kill her...

His chest suddenly aching in his chest, he had to resist the urge to grip his shirt right over his heart and give in to the need to cry.

He didn't want too. He hated the very thought of it.

But he often carried a small hand gun with three bullets in it's chamber. All of which had Kay's name carved into them. All of them meant for a specific organ.

Heart, head- and her jugular. Some would mean a faster demise than others, but at least he made sure that he was an excellent shot with the weapon he carried. And an excellent shot meant little margin for error. And little margin for error meant no rom for a mistake.

He wasn't proud of that fact. Not really. But it was something that he knew he would have to live with- however short a time since he knew that if he killed Kay... Even if he didn't want too do so.

The master's of Ryozanpaku would, in turn, kill him.

"Your really not going to say anything about this are you?" Takeda asked, looking more than a little bit impressed by that fact as Niijima bit his lower lip and shook his head no. Takeda sighed and gave the pointy eared teen a vexed look, but did as Niijima asked.

_For now_, he promised himself. After all there was more than one way to weasel answers out of an alien.

"Kenichi should still be asleep after consuming all of the alcohol he drank last night. Which will give me just enough time to fix breakfast and some coffee. You in?"

"Sure. Lead the way." Niijima said as Takeda sent him a mock smile and then fell silent again as they reached his apartment complex and quickly climbed up to his apartment and after the boxer unlocked the door, slipped inside.


End file.
